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AN Afghan asylum seeker says he doesn't mind risking his life in a boat journey to Australia and staying for years on Nauru, because all of his expenses will be paid for there.

As the first asylum seekers - around 30 Sri Lankans - landed on Nauru this morning in a return to the Pacific solution the Government hopes will stop boats, the 17-year-old who is waiting with others in Indonesia for boats said he had "no problems'' with the arrangement.

Medi said his family were in Pakistan waiting for him to find them better life in Australia so he will brave the danger.

"I'll for sure try it,'' he told ABC Radio from Java about his plans to pay people smugglers, despite the fact he had to be saved in two previous doomed voyages, one in which 200 people died.

"I need a life in peace.''

Asked if he had heard of Australia's new policy to process asylum seekers in Nauru and PNG he said: "Yea''.

"That will be no problem for me because here I have to expend my own money but there all of my expenses are (sic) Australia.

Christmas Island Mark IISource:Supplied

"But still I will risk my life and go by boat and try again and again.''

He said he wanted to be a good citizen in Australia.

First asylum seekers arrive on Nauru

The comments came as the first asylum flight from Christmas Island to Nauru touched down just before 8am today.

Buses were waiting to take the group of Sri Lankan men on the short drive to the Topside processing camp. Just 30 men were put on the first flight.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen today said the men had been selected by his department for "operational reasons" and implied the next groups would not exclusively comprise men.

"I think you can expect to see a broad cross-section of people transferred to Nauru next week and in coming weeks," he said.

Asked if that included children, Mr Bowen said: "We are not going to provide loopholes for people to exploit."

Also asked when the first children would be flown out, the minister said: "You will see that play out next week and in coming weeks - I'm not going to provide a running commentary."

Mr Bowen said the first transfer had occurred "smoothly and without incident" and was a significant step in breaking the business model of people smugglers, many of whom operate out of Indonesia.

"The message is very clear: if you arrive in Australia by boat you can be taken from Australia by airplane and processed in another country," he said.

Tent city at Topside, NauruSource:Supplied

Mr Bowen would not say how long processing would take, but stood by the government's "no advantage" principle, which says people arriving by boat in Australia would not be advantaged over others waiting for resettlement in camps in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Resettlement options are looked at on a case-by-case basis, bearing in mind the personal circumstances of the individual," the minister said.

The new arrivals on Nauru will stay in tents while permanent accommodation is fixed up. The last food stocks were delivered to the tent city last night, and final building works finished.

The Government will operate a regular charter air service this month, with the centre expected to host 500 asylum seekers by the end of September.

People smugglers' lies exposed, says minister

NauruSource:The Australian

PEOPLE smugglers who have lied and told asylum seekers Nauru would never be implemented have been found out this morning, Mr Bowen said today.

Mr Bowen said people smugglers in Indonesia had spent the past month telling asylum seekers the government would never send them to Nauru.

"There have be people smugglers out there in the region over recent weeks peddling lies and untruths saying that this wouldn't happen that somehow the Nauru processing centre wouldn't be established or they could provide guarantees people wouldn't be transfered there," he said.

"This tells the lie to the people smuggler's message of the last few weeks. The message is very clear if you arrive in Australia by boat you can be taken from Australia by aeroplane and processed in another country."

Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the government had to make clear whether the asylum seekers, who will be processed under a no advantage test, would have access to appeals processes in Australia.

Syrian refugee intake rises

The Government also announced yesterday it would accept 1000 refugees from Syria in 2012-13.

A recent jump in the humanitarian intake from 13,750 to 20,000 has allowed the Government to accept the refugees.

The Greens have raised concerns that authorities may use tasers, guns and batons to get Nauru-bound asylum seekers on and off planes.

The federal government has said that reasonable steps would be taken to ensure the asylum seekers followed instructions.

The Nauru government has asked that force not be used against any person.

Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young asked Labor frontbencher Kate Lundy in the Senate yesterday to explain what type of force was reasonably necessary and whether the government would comply with Nauru's request.

Senator Hanson-Young asked if the use of tasers, guns, batons and drugging was acceptable.

Senator Lundy said such speculation was "inflammatory and disappointing".

She said under the law, officers can use force if necessary and reasonable.

"Section 198AD refers to the taking of people to a regional processing country - provides for certain actions that may be taken to effect that transfer, including placing the person on a vehicle or vessel and restraining them," she said.

"It also provides in doing these things an officer may use such force as is necessary or reasonable."

Also yesterday a boat carrying the fifth-largest group of people to arrive this year was intercepted off Western Australia.

All persons arriving by boat since August 13 run the risk of being taken to Nauru for processing or to another detention facility being reopened on Papua New Guinea's Manus Island.